The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1887-02-10
OUR RURAL TOPICS,
Some Practical Suggestions for Our
Agricultural Readers
GROWING ONIONS.

Either clay or sand bottom is favorable, pro-
yided the drainage is good and the land does
not suffer from drought The land should
be nearly level, with just enough declivity to
drain easily after. rain. Drained peat land that
has been worked several years, and has some
loan worked into it, will grow excellent
onions, but in wet season they do not ripen
so well as upon upland. Where the land has
sandy bottom or is peaty, many farmers plow
under the manure in Fall and do not plow
again in Spring. but simply loosen the surface
by the wheel harrow in the Spring before SOW
ing seed. But if the land is at all stiff it will
be better TO pillow aud rake the land in the
Spring as soon as it will work mellow.
1t is desirable to get in the onion seed as
early as possible on account Of the danger of
the crops suffering from drought when sown
later, but if the crop can be irrigated conve-
niently there is less need Of very early sowing
OF seed. The seed is usually sown from April
20 TO May 10, about four pounds of good seed
per acre being the right quantity. The rows
are put in - 10 Ii inches apart, and if celery
is to be planted on the onion field each fifth or
sixth row is left blank in sowing the onions.
The amount Of seed sown and the quality of
the seed itself are Of very great importance in
growing onions 1t is desirable not to have to
thin them at ALL and it is also desirable TO have
every bulb ripen and of good shape. These
points depend largely upon the quality OF the
seed and the amount sown. As soon as the
onions are up so as 10 show the rows, the shove
hoe is run and kept going every 10 days until
the onions are so large as TO be injured by it.
| The hand wedding will have 10 be repeated five
or seven times, and the purslane picked up and
carried of the field TO prevent seeding it for
the next year.
COWS AND CATTLE.
Cows that are coming in in two months
or less should have no grain food. If they have
| been kept so far in good condition good sound
hay or clean corn fodder clear from smut or
mold will be sufficient. Nothing that will pre-
maturely stimulate the milk organs should be
! given until the COW is safely over calving. As
the cold of this month strengthens, milking
cows viii need little increase of food, and
cornmeal will be the best kind OF grain food for
this emergency. See that the cows have clean
! litter and dry beds. Nothing else is more dis
! agreeable 20 see than hard patches of dry
manure on a cows TANKS, coming off with the
hair and leaving bare skin.
Cattle are exceeding low priced Just now, but
] that is all the more reason why the young
stock should be pushed ahead TO make up in
/ weight for the low market value Recent tests
/ go toprove that cheap bran is a better food than
dearer corn for feeding cattle, and when cattle
are fed for the manure bran is worth more
than twice As much as corn. Give no smutty
corn fodder TO cattle, and especially TO cows in
| calf Western farmers who feed stock in the
stalk fields should beware of the too-prevalent
smut, which is highly injurious TO the cattle.
Now is the time when the cattle gadfy Larvae
may DO destroyed. The grubs may be easily
! squeezed out OF soft tum0rs on the backs OF the
animals. IL every grub could be thus destroy
ed the numbers of this injurious insect would
| be greatly lesSened, and in time il would be
/ exterminated. Young calves should have the
warmest pens and the best feed in this month.
If they are stunted now, all that has been given
them so far will have been lost or neutralized.
Look out for lice aud heas upon all the stock.
TRIMMING TREES.
OF all the blunders that the common farmer
and some others make with trees, none is so
common, or SO hurtful, and which he is SO long
finding out, and Of which he might know so
certainly, as the practice of cutting of lower
| limbs All over the country nothing is moro
common than TO sec mutilated trees on almost
/ every farm-big limbs cut of near the body Of
the tree, and Of course roofing TO the heart.
! This is a heart sin against nature. The very
/ limbs necessary to protect the tree from wind
and sun, and just where limbs are needed most
they cut away. But the greatest injury is
the rotting that always takes place when big
/ limb is sawed of-too big to heal over, it must
rot and, being on the body, the rotting goes TO
the heart aud hurts the whole tree. 1t is COM
mon all over the country 10 see large orchards
mutilated in this way. We often see holes in
the trees where big limbs have been cut away
where squirrels and even raccoOns could crawl
in. Perhaps the only reason these trimmers
would give is that the lower limbs were easier
! got at, and some would say they wanted to
raise crop under the trees.-ErchaHge.
WHO WILL ANswERg
EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: OF the many
readers of this truly soldiers paper, has any
one had any experience in the growing Of the
Mammoth deWberry; and if so, what are the re-
| sults2-W. T. Nj.
While it does not pay, as a rule, to be at
the expense OF cooking food for stock, says the
National StOckmGH, it does pay TO cook food for
young pigs. Potatoes can be used with advan-
| tage, aud good warm mess will do mere TO
make the pigs grow than anything else.
old bones, old boots, leather scraps and
rags are excellent for placing in the holes in
tended for grape-vnes. 1t is a safe mode of
getting them out of the way and also render
them seryiceable. They may be of little value
at first, but sooner or later they will furnish
plant food.
Always thoroughly wash the udders. wine
with towel. and milk with dry hands. Ii is
very important 10 do so IL "gilt-edge" butter
be desired. The mixer cannot be too careful.
IL is claimed that the milk receives more odors
and impurities before il leaves the stable than
from any other source.
AT this season, when the corn is being fed
10 the hogs it should be remembered that the
warmer aud more comfortable the hogs are kept
the less corn required. Before hogs can fatten
the bodies must be supplied with sufficient
heat 10 protect against cold, and the greater the
amount Of heat saved the larger the gain in
cat.
- Regarding the value of ensilage Wiscon-
sin dairyman writes the Breeders Gasette that
stock fed on ensilage keep in excellent health.
and that with its use he has never noticed
| slugglShness in bulls or abortion in cows He
feeds one-half ensilage with hay and meal as
the other hall, the ensilage taking the place OF
roots.
| Somebody estimates the number of goats in
the world at 50,000,000. If properly MANAGED
goats pay handsome profit as they subsist ON
scanty heritage, and seldom are afflicted with
diseases. In Germany and England thew are
used in the dairy, the flesh is highly esteemed
while the skins command a ready sale at ali
times.
If there be any materials that are unfit
for use on the farm, such rs rakings, leaves. or
dried weeds, consign them TO the flames, as il i
much better 10 do so than 10 have them in the
way. Fire will do more TO destroy weed seeds
and save labor during the growing season than
any other agent. At this season get ready for
the next by reducing the number of obstacles
Though long custom has given the pref.
erence TO largo hogs, yet the small carcasscs
1 aNl IaNaA Hos ia.